Happy "Pi" Day!

What a great "Pi" Day it was today!

We tried to eat only round things for our meals...

made, measured, and decorated pies...

and noted all the wonderful circular objects around us! 

Here is one of our mini-pies, as we were finding the diameter (Action shot... the ribbon moved as my daughter snipped it...):

Here we are finding the circumference of the pie:

Here's where the magic starts to happen... We used the diameter-length ribbon and figured out how many fit across the circumference-length ribbon:

I had my daughter mark a dot showing where the length of the diameter-length
ribbon fit, as we moved it across the circumference-length ribbon. We counted
it out together and found that it fit just about THREE times!





To extend her thinking even further, I let her use my wedding rings to try the same experiment, but let her do most of the process on her own...

The same was true... The circumference was about three times longer than the diameter!

I'm hoping that for the next few days, circles are noted everywhere, and this experiment is reproduced often! Who says math is boring and difficult...? I believe that there is ALWAYS a way to make it fun!!!



"Pi" Day is March 14th... 3/14!

Many math teachers are very excited about this Wednesday...

It will be “Pi” Day!

Pi (π) is a very important number in the math world, especially in the area of geometry. Let's celebrate this special day with some fun activities!

Activity Ideas:

• Read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
• Help Radius investigate and find the magic number to break the spell!
• Make a pie of your choice
• During the process of putting the pie together...review fractions, measuring, accuracy, and step-by-step instruction.
• Once the pie is completed... Find the circumference of the pie, then find the diameter of the pie. Divide the first measure by the second. (answer should be close to 3.14)
• Do an investigative circle activity
• Find five round objects
• Measure the circumference (distance around outer edge of circle) and diameter (distance across middle of circle) of each object.

A piece of string, yarn, or shoelace work

well when measuring round objects.

Use a ruler or meter stick to measure the string.

Use the ruler or meter stick to measure the diameter

(measure across middle of circle).

•  Record the data for each object in a table similar to this one.
 

 

• For each object, divide the circumference by the diameter and record the number in the table.
• Are there any patterns/similarity? (all divisions should equal about 3.14)

BIG idea about Pi (π) ...
For any circle, the measure around the edge is just over three times the measure across its middle!
"Pi" Resources:
•  piday.org
• How pi works...
• BrainPOP: "Pi" video